Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder

Mankind is assessed for its' VALUE today.  What IS the VALUE of a man or a woman?  Well, the good news is that it is MORE THAN that of a SHEEP.  Come to think of it, our value is more than rules too.

The Bible has a lot to say about our care for animals.  BTW, they don't know what day it is so they are just as likely to fall into a pit on that day as any other.  Our care and stewardship doesn't stop because of the calendar.  This kind of work can indeed be done on the Sabbath.  God is merciful and so should his people...no matter what day of the week it is.

The value of man>value of sheep.  No kidding.  God chooses people to be His treasured possession.  He describes us as His portion; His allotted heritage; His delight; and that He set His eyes upon us; that He rejoices over us, etc.  God really likes us and has created us for Himself.  We probably should return the favor:  that is, let's FAVOR Him.

Jesus reminds His adversaries, "you know the Old Testament story about David UNLAWFULLY eating bread devoted to the Lord and for His priests, right?"  It's in the Bible.  You should know the story, and its' MEANING, especially as it relates to "breaking the Sabbath".  When the New Testament refers to something like this in the Old Testament, it is like a trumpet call to flip back and see what happened.  It is a very good spiritual habit to go on these non-rabbit-trails.

There we find that the Law is intended to serve God's people, rather than God's people serve the Law.  The Sabbath is intended to serve God's people, rather than God's people serve the Sabbath.  This Davidic "exception" to the law can only be understood in view of HESED and God's expanding revelation of that concept by Jesus.  That is, if you better understood the MERCY of God, you'd be on the right track.  The laws about the Sabbath are not given to RESTRICT mercy, but to expand it.

David repeatedly keeps the main thing the main thing.  Here, it is more about relationship with a merciful God than about His regulations. Subscribe or write [email protected]

Who is boss of the Sabbath?
Who has ultimate authority?
What does Scripture say about honoring the Sabbath?
What does Scripture say about Eating Grain as you pass by?
How are we to behave as followers of a God who is a big fan of MERCY?

These are like giant trains all heading for a big collision in yet another conflict with the Pharisees.  The Pharisees have a firm position--so firm, that they feel it to be INSTRUCTIVE to others.  Jesus has a different, more nuanced position.  How will the collision turn out?

Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath.  Jesus is Lord of Scripture.  Jesus is author of the 10 commandments.  Jesus made provision for the hungry of Israel.  Jesus wants us to bias ourselves toward Mercy, just like He does.  Listen 7 minutes and then subscribe on your favorite podcast provider.

Jesus says that an AVALANCHE of testimony bears witness about Him.  The

• Trinity bears witness
• the works and miracles bear witness
• the Father bears witness
• the man John bears witness
• the man Moses bears witness
• the Old Testament writing bears witness
• the New Testament words of Jesus bears witness

The response is summarized in one word: refusal.  They set their hope on the wrong person, wrong thing, seek the wrong glory, won't come, don't believe, and don't receive.

What do you do when you get hit by an avalanche of evidence?  Don't be like that guy.  Do have the right POSTURE.  Listen 7 minutes.  Subscribe or write [email protected]

A young woman by the name of Winnie met us at a foreign airport and WHISKED us through all kinds of scary authorities.  She was our ADVOCATE.  We skipped all the lines.

Similarly, at the day of judgement 
everyone will be called (you may now unbuckle your seatbelt)
and will obey arising from our tombs (everybody off this plane)
and have to face judgement (customs, immunization checks and immigration)
unless you get to SKIP THE LINE of judgement because you have an advocate ( WINNIE!)

After your death, you will have spiritual ears that work and a spiritual body that works.  You will obey the call to COME OUT.  You will be judged...or, you will skip the line of judgment because you have an advocate. We get this advocate by hearing and believing in Him.  His name is Jesus.  He's even better than Winnie.  Apple podcasts. Google podcasts. Spotify. Podcast Addict. CastBox. iVoox. Pandora. Amazon Echo. TuneIn Radio. etc.

Lots of great men and women, smarter and taller than me, have addressed some of the tricky doctrines of God.  We call them the DOG's.  Dead Old Guys and Dead Old Gals of the faith.  One's I am thinking of might be Jonathan Edwards, John Bunyan, Tyndale, Martin Lloyd Jones, Corrie Ten Boom, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther and John Calvin.  

"The Father/Son give life to whom He will."  The noted cadre above all have things to say about our passage today.  It is an opening to the doctrine of ELECTION.  Are you a Calvinist?  Are you an Edwardsist? Are you a Tyndalist? Are you a Jan Hussian?  They can be helpful in my thinking because they are all smarter than me and probably wiser too.  The downsides of claiming a doctrine could be that it separates people from each other, so that needs to be watched.  Also, it can be that claiming one or another of that hit parade of thinkers can separate me from GOD.  

I am as much of a Lutherist as the scripture allows.  I am as much of a Calvinist as the scripture allows.  I am as much as a Nouwenist as the scripture allows. In other words, I claim my primary "stance" to be on the shoulders of SCRIPTURE,  not on the shoulders of any D.O.G. .  Believe me, the above people are 10x the thinkers that I am and 10x the Christians that I am. But God has called and elected and enabled ME.  He has called me to understand the scriptures as He has revealed them in many different categories.  So Lord, teach me from all these D.O.G.'s.  Teach me ESPECIALLY from your WORD. [email protected]

A very humble podcaster takes a crack at the doctrine of ELECTION.  Good luck with that.  

It all started out just dandy:  
God (Yea! somebody is in charge)
God gives (I like this so far)
God gives LIFE (this still sounds good)
God gives LIFE to whom (people.  Great! I am one of those!)
God gives LIFE to whom He CHOOSES (just hold on one second)

Now I start to bristle.  Wait, not everybody? If I was God...Oh no, there really is JUDGMENT? God I might be shaking my fist, or at least my pinkie at you right now.

My brain makes up 1.7123% of my bodyweight. I'm expecting a LOT out of it right now.  This is a mystery that He's given LOTS of information about, yet not everything.  It is revealed a whole lot, but some is still hidden.  

So, in the meantime I have got a job to do. I'm still supposed to be trusting, and making room for Him and His ways.  I am supposed to be REJOICING at His tender care.  Glad we got this all straightened out....  bewithme.us

Our official passage in John 5:21 makes an audacious claim:  God raises the dead.  Either He does or He doesn't.  Everything rests upon this power.  Jesus puts it out there like a big stumbling block.

Paul makes an argument FOR God raising the dead by arguing AGAINST it in 1 Cor 15:12-26.  If Christ is not raised from the dead and there is no RESURRECTION, consider the implications:

• We have a false savior. a non-savior.  We then don't have a savior.
• All the preaching and communicating about Jesus is in vain.
• Any faith, belief, trust we have in Jesus is in vain; futile
• Bible teachers are all liers
• You are still stuck forever in your sins and in their consequences
• You still have a death problem 
• Christians are the most pitiable people on the planet

Or, it is TRUE.  God DOES have this power.  He exercises it in the resurrection of Jesus.  He goes first and we follow.  He has got my death problem covered. Death is destroyed.  I get to live with God forever.  I belong to Christ.

Join me.  Belong to Him today by getting this critical element right.

We must let God be God.  In other words, He is revealing Himself in a certain way.  He is active in certain ways and not in others.  We cannot pick and choose.  We really need to stand back and marvel.

In 1 Samuel 3:18 it says that Eli, after hearing about what God was up to, said, "It is the Lord, let him do what seems good to Him."  Today, Jesus reveals stuff about Himself that we should start with marveling, and then head to LETTING HIM be as He chooses.  

He reveals Himself in equality in the Trinity.  He reveals Himself in being a life giver.  He reveals Himself in being qualified and appointed to Judge.  Our response should be study, learning, trying to understand, and then head toward marveling.  When we are almost done, we'd best include some HONORING and worship.  For, "Who else is like God?"  Nobody.  Nohow!

This is a daily podcast and you can get it by email [email protected] or via your favorite of 30 podcast servers.  Be With Me is on them all.

We've been considering WHO is the BOSS, and today, OVER WHAT? Who gets to be "Lord of the Sabbath?" Though the external fight is over paralysis, there is an inner war.  There is an internal war over SIN.  After the Sabbath and healing battle subsides, Jesus tells this person to change INSIDE.  Stop sinning.  Whatever the sins you were committing up there in the colonnades of the pool of Bethesda, probably INSIDE YOUR HEAD, you need to STOP it.

So apparently, this guy was not 100% victim and worthy of 100% sympathy.  Nobody is. Apparently, though he had a showy external problem, Jesus wanted to address the super personal sin that he'd been committing for 38 years.  All the 10 commandments can be broken by a paralyzed guy: idolatry, lust, covet, disrespect, using a Name of God in vain, and even stealing.

This is where a lot of the Lord's good work is done, in the hearts and volition of men and women.  I'm not saying it is EASY.  Forgiving and convicting and atoning is serious work.  He needs to do it in the invalids, and in the robust; in the ancients and in the moderns; in men and in women; and in those who look pretty together and those that are a mess.  So don't think Jesus is done when He fixes the OUTSIDE.  There is real WORK TO BE DONE on the insides.

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